Breath guard



March 20, 1962 J. A. WASZKIEWICZ 3,026,162

BREATH GUARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 1, 1960 rllllh INVENTOR. JOHNQNTHONI WHSZKIEWICZ March 20, 1962 J. A. WASZKIEWICZ 3,026,162

BREATH GUARD Filed April 1, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q a, Q 1 I .IIII

2 Jo A JIa ENTOR.

NY A ZKIEWICZ & 4 T

United States Patent Office 3,026,162 Patented Mar. 26, 1952 3,026,162BREATH GUARD John Anthony Waszkiewicz, Ridgewood, N.J., assignor toUnited Show Case Co., Inc., Moonachie, NJ. Filed Apr. 1, 1960, Ser. No.19,315 9 Claims. (Cl. 312140.4)

My invention relates to food show cases and is directed particularly toimprovements in breath guards for such show cases.

The principal object of my invention is to provide an adjustable breathguard mechanism for food display or show cases such as are used incafeterias and restaurants, wherein the breath guard angle can readilybe adjusted to meet the various health and sanitation laws of differentcities and states.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable breath guardfor food show cases wherein the spacing between the lower edge of thebreath guard and the shelf beneath can be varied to allow more or lessroom, as required for conveniently removing different sizes of pastries,etc.

A more particular object of the invention is to provide a breath guardbracket and support structure of the character described wherein thebreath guard is pivotally hinged at each side to said side brackets.Said breath guards are hinged at each side so that the top edge swingsinwardly and the bottom edge swings outwardly. Said breath guards arevertically adjustable on opposed support posts of the show case. Alateral abutment frame member is fixed between the support posts andabove the brackets in such position and of such shape as to providevarious resting positions for various positions of vertical adjustmentof the brackets, for the upper edge of the breath guards, whereby tohold the breath guard at various angular positions with respect to thevertical support posts of the show case.

Another object is to provide, in a food show case, a breath guardsupport mechanism which allows a wide degree of angular adjustment ofthe breath guard, and which can be set to allow the breath guard to hangvertically on pivotal hinges to act as a hinged access door as may berequired in certain instances to meet health regulations.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a breath guard bracketand support mechanism which will be inexpensive to manufacture andinstall, easy to clean, attractive in appearance and durable in use.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description when read with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, wherein like reference numeralsdenote corresponding parts through the several views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the food show case having a breath guardembodying the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the adjustable bracketscomprising the invention,

FIG. 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view through two front posts ofthe show case illustrated in FIG. 1, showing details of the breath guardand bracket assembly,

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 ofFIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the position of thebreath guards when the adjustable supporting brackets are set at onelimit position,

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but illustrating the position of thebreath guards when the supporting brackets are set at their other limitposition, and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 and illustrating how the breatherguard glass can readily be positioned for easy cleaning of its outer andinner glass surfaces.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, wherein like reference numeralsdenote corresponding parts throughout the several views, 10 in FIG. 1designates a 6-leg food show case embodying the invention, comprisingtwo sideby-side three-tier sections 11, 12 each tier of which isprovided in front with an elongated, rectangular, metalfrarned glassbreath guard 13 adjustably supported between the front legs 14 bymechanism embodying the invention.

The framework of the showe case'ltl comprises front legs 14 and rearlegs 15, preferably of a metal such as stainless steel, held in spacedparallel relation by horizontal front and back spacer members 16, 17 andside spacer members 18 at each tier. Glass shelves 19 are placed uponthe spacer member 16, 17 at each tier, and top and side glass plates 20,21 respectively. The back of said show cases are generally open, howeveron occasions breath guards may be used on the back as well as the front.Means are provided for pivotally supporting the sides of each breathguard 13 between pairs of the front legs 14. To this end, the verticalside portions 22 of the metallic frame '23 of each breath guard 13 areprovided with outwardly projecting pivot pins 2-4 spaced from the top ata distance of about one-fifth of the height of the breath guard. Thepivot pins 24 are rotatably supported in centrally apertured journalbosses 25 die formed integrally on or otherwise secured to anglebrackets 26 adjustably supported with respect to the show case framelegs 14 at each side of breath guard. The angle brackets 26 are shapedto conform to the shape of the frame legs against which they lie, in theexample illustrated the shape being right-angular. However other shapesmight be used and bracket modified to contour of shape used. Eachbracket 26 is provided with a vertical slot 27 (see FIG. 2) throughwhich a wing screw 28 is threaded into its corresponding leg 14 at theinside of the show case to provide vertical adjustment, and to lockbreath guard into any desirable position. Each bracket 26 is providedwith a vertical scale 29 marked from 1 to 6 or any desired number ofmarkings, in the upward direction, representing the range of adjustmentthereof, and each leg 14- has an index line 30 for indicating thebracket height adjustments as calibrated by the numbers on the bracketscales 30. (See FIGS. 4, 5, and 6.)

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the front frame spacers 16 are preferably ofrectangular cross-section, and are so positioned that when the brackets26 for a breath guard 13 are each in their uppermost positions (positionnumber 1 on the scales 36*), the upper edge of the top portion 31 of thebreath guard frame 23 abuts the inner lower corner of said frame spacerto hold the breath guard at its greatest angle with respect to thevertical. As the brackets 26 are adjusted evenly to lower positions, theedge of the breath guard frame will move outwardly along the verticalunder-surface 32 of the frame spacer 16 to provide various decreasedangular positions of the breath plate with the vertical until finally,at position 6, the edge of the breath guard plate will swing clear ofthe front edge of said spacer under-surface and allow the breath guardto hang vertically (see FIG. 5) to operate a pivoted door in instanceswhere maximum protection is required.

FIG. 6 illustrated how the pivoted breath guards 13 can be swungupwardly in the counter-clockwise direction to rest against the nextupper shelf for easy cleaning of the insides of their glass surfaces.The broken-line representation 33 of the breath guard 13 in FIG. 6illustrates also how it can conveniently be held in a horizontal planefor easy cleaning of the outside glass surface.

While there is described and illustrated herein one form in which myinvention can conveniently be embodied in practice, it is to beunderstood that this embodiment is presented by way of example only, andnot in a limiting sense. The invention, in brief, is limited only by thescope and spirit of the following claims.

3 What I claim is: 1. In a breath guard assembly for show cases, the

combination of a show case frame work comprising a pair of verticalfront legs, means securing said front legs in spaced parallel relation,a fiat rectangular breath guard, said breath guard having horizontalside frame portions and vertical end frame portions, bracket mechanismpivotally supporting end frame portions of said breath guard betweensaid legs at points intermediate the tops and bottoms of said end frameportions, said bracket mechanism comprising a pair of brackets and meansfor vertically adjusting said brackets with respect to one each of saidlegs, and abutment means fixed with respect to said legs and arrangedabove the pivotal axis of said supporting mechanism for abutment thereagainst of the upper end of said side frame portion of said breath guardfor arresting downward swinging only of said breath guard at a certainangular position with respect to the vertical depending upon thevertical adjustment position of said brackets.

2. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein saidlegs-securing means comprises a horizontal spacer member fixed betweensaid legs.

3. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein said abutmentmeans is constituted by said horizontal spacer member.

4. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 3 wherein said spacermember is formed with a narrow,

horizontal undersurface against'which said upper side frame portion ofsaid breath guard abuts.

5. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 4 wherein at thelowermost adjusted position of said brackets, said upper side frameportion of said breath guard swings clear of said under surface topermit vertical pivotal hanging of said breath guard.

6. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein said adjustmentmeans comprises a vertical slot in each bracket, and wing screwsextending through said slots and threaded into respective ones of saidlegs.

7. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 6 wherein said legs aresquare in cross-section and wherein said brackets are in the form ofright-angular members fitting against corner portions of said legmembers.

8. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said legsecuring means comprises a spacer member, said spacer member acting as aback-stop.

9. A breath guard assembly as defined in claim 6 wherein said legs arecontour in cross section and wherein said brackets are in a form to fitsaid contour of said legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS729,110 Young May 26, 1903 747,189 Knisely Dec. 15, 1903 2,894,604McMillan July 14, 1959

